It was as early as January this year Dentsu Inc in Japan experimented with its augmented reality based coupon platform iButterfly. Since then this mobile information and coupon technology is fluttering about in the region and slowly catching up as a tool for longer brand-consumer engagement time.
They caught the butterfly
Recently Philippines’ SM Malls, a leading chain of department store and malls across the country owned by Shopping Center Management Corp got an industry award in Philippines for its work on digital media marketing. The campaign was nothing but SM Supermalls iButterfly Hunt. The hunt made most of the growing base of smartphone users, and targeted them for attracting more footfall by offering interesting deals and discounts at various stores within the malls.
The app engaged and rewarded SM Supermalls customers in a fun and interactive way through their Android and iOS mobile devices. By catching Augmented Reality butterflies, customers were rewarded with various prizes such as instant freebies, purchase add-ons and discounts. This not only enhanced their shopping and dining experience but also created a brand loyalty.
While SM Malls is still cheering the award for its iButterfly campaign, Watsons in Thailand has announced its first digital campaign partnership with iButterfly to launch the ‘Watsons Bank of Beauty’ promotion. All the consumers have to do is catch the Watsons’ Wink butterflies on iButterfly Thailand App and use them as cash worth 20, 10, and 5 baht, at any Watsons store in the country. Talking about the campaign Nuanphan Jayanama, marketing director of Central Watsons Co.,Ltd. Says, “Now we aim to offer an enhanced shopping experience to attract a new group of customers, while making our promotions more interesting and thrilling. This year is the first time for Watsons to use the iButterfly application as a tool for the Bank of Beauty promotion, which will also help to spread Wink coupons to our customers nationwide. We are confident that this digital campaign will receive great feedback from our customers in the digital age.” The campaign launched in the last week of September will run till mid October.
iButterfly and the likes are the future
ibutterfly, an augmented reality application developed by Dentsu and Cherrypicks works with motion sensors and GPS, which when installed in a smartphone allows users to track latest deals and get special discounts. “All the user will have to do is point at the butterfly floating by in the phone screen and capture it by shaking the phone. Each butterfly is a coupon with discounts from some brand or the other. This is a gamified process of coupon download,” says Jason Chiu, CEO, Cherrypicks.
In fact, research shows that brands using such gamified process to interact with consumers get more time and attention from the target audience. “A consumer spends three minutes or more in this process. So this type of augmented reality based mobile marketing tool helps brands better engage consumer and get their attention. It also improves brand loyalty,” adds Chiu.
Matt Briant, regional mobile platform director, Dentsu Mobius also explains that new innovations on mobile platform like iButterfly that make life more relevant and convenient for a user is the future of mobile marketing.